Court orders two locals to pay back EUR26K to German national

The High Court upheld a verdict ordering two Maldivians to pay back EUR 26,000 they received from a German citizen, as they failed to establish that the money received was presented as a gift.

Mario Arendt, a German woman, filed a lawsuit against the two Maldivians, claiming that one of them borrowed money promising to marry her. The second person accused in the claim is the owner of the bank account used for said transaction.

The defendants denied the claim in court, declaring that they never asked for the money and that the transaction took place due to the close relationship one of them had with the lady.

The High Court’s ruling, which upholds the Civil Court’s verdict, stated that both the defendants admitted to receiving the money and, as the money was deposited on different instances, it proves that the defendants were aware of the transactions. It added that the burden of proof was on the defendants when it came to proving that it was a gift. As the defendants failed to attest that the money given by the German citizen was in fact a gift, the two judges presiding over the case ruled to uphold the Civil Court’s ruling and ordered the two to pay back the money.

Maldivian courts have previously also upheld such rulings and ordered Maldivian citizens to pay back money borrowed from foreign nationals.